Singapore's EDBI invests in US-based satellite imaging firm
Claudia Chong
Singapore
PLANET, a US-based satellite imaging company that operates the world's largest fleet of earth observation satellites, has bagged an undisclosed Series D investment from EDBI, the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
The investment - EDBI's first in spacetech - brings Planet's total fundraise to over US$400 million. EDBI is Planet's first Singapore-based investor, and the funds will be used for the firm's Asia expansion and for growing its sales, marketing and product team, co-founder and chief strategy officer Robbie Schingler told The Business Times.
Other backers of Planet include Google, the International Finance Corporation, as well as American venture firms DFJ and Data Collective.
The earth observation data and services industry is poised to grow to US$15 billion by 2026, said EDBI. Planet serves more than 30,000 users and 400 customers in over 40 countries across commercial applications such as agriculture, maritime, energy, defence and finance. It counts Nasa, Google and Japanese firm JSAT among its customers.
Its satellite-imaging and in-house analytics services provide actionable insights for customers across both government and commercial industries. Commercial use cases include forecasting agricultural crop yield, monitoring infrastructure projects and assets, and demand prediction for businesses.
But Planet's technology has also been used in non-commercial cases, such as capturing the significant expansion of refugee camps in Syria. Non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch has also partnered Planet to use satellite imagery to document rights violations around the world.
About 30 per cent of the company's revenue comes from the government sector, said Mr Schingler. Planet is also working on developing an analytics platform that makes data meaningful for small- and mid-sized businesses, allowing its customer base to expand to that segment.
The company has three core products. One is a service that allows firms to monitor a certain area, another provides analysis-ready data to analytics and mapping companies, and the last product provides high-resolution satellite images.
In Asia, Planet's service can have promising use cases in the agricultural sector, in disaster response and preparation, and in surveying the extent and effects of deforestation, said Mr Schingler.
The firm has six employees in Singapore. It is in talks with several Singapore government agencies and institutions for potential applications of its technology, supported by EDBI.
